Monkey's eye view of freedom

I stumbled across this photo today quite by accident. And I thought, "Look at all of it." You just have to see it.

photo by stig nygaard

A mind that evolved in such and expansive and complex environment is undoubtedly ill-equipped for this:

A word that meant the opposite of expansive couldn't even begin to describe it. Inimical. Cruel.

Sneak Peek: Wild rhesus monkeys taken in Nepal

Monkeys captured for vaccine research

The research center has taken permission from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) to capture 50 monkeys including five male, according to him.

The team has trapped 20 monkeys within three days from Bhutandevi area. Nine of them have been sent to Kathmandu, while the remaining are to be sent on Saturday, he said.

There are already 80 rhesus monkeys at the breeding center of the research center in Kathmandu, Khadka said. DNPWC is paid Rs 25,000 for each monkey captured and used for the research, he said.

Full text available at South Asian Media Net: Monkeys captured for vaccine research

Ivory DNA test takes poachers to tusk - earth - 26 February 2007 - New Scientist Environment

Ivory DNA test takes poachers to tusk - earth - 26 February 2007 - New Scientist Environment

DNA samples from elephants all over Africa have given scientists a way to pinpoint the geographic origins of ivory. The results of the genetic map provide insights into where poaching is under-reported, and may also help to elucidate trade channels and to confirm the origin of ivory sold as part of limited kill authorizations granted to some south African nations.

From the news item:

A DNA test that reveals where ivory has come from has been used to pinpoint the geographic origins of hundreds of tusks seized from poachers, providing law enforcement agencies with valuable clues.

The test was developed in 2004 through a comparison of elephant DNA from different regions. Theoretically, it can pinpoint the origin of a particular sample to between 500 and 1000 kilometres.

Now, the DNA test has survived its first genuine challenge. It revealed that a huge sample of 532 tusks – seized in Singapore in 2002 but originally shipped from Malawi – came mainly from Zambia, not from multiple locations as originally suspected.

“We were delighted with the results,” says Sam Wasser, who developed the test at the University of Washington in Seattle, US. “The method actually performed better than expected.”

Similar genetic techniques could be valuable tools for challenging the origin of all sorts of animals and animal products where the sourcing is dubious.

Sneak peek: Human preference for other species could determine whether they survive

Human biases affect conservation (or the lack thereof). Our biases also affect protection in other arenas.

Human preference for other species could determine whether they survive

"Color is not the only factor that determines a species' attractiveness to humans. Characteristics such as size and neoteny – the retention of babyish physical traits such as large eyes and large head – also can play major roles for some animals. Pandas, zebras and elephants, for example, are black and white or gray but are highly preferred by humans.


Millions of insects and the countless slimy invertebrates that occupy the oceans are likely not as lucky, Stokes said.
'The work pretty conclusively shows there is a large difference of appeal among organisms, even among closely related organisms,' he said. 'For different kinds of organisms, different qualities seem to cause differences of appeal.'

The work is a signal to conservationists to be mindful of the role of public popularity, and what might cause it, when making decisions about how to deal with various species, even invasive species. He noted that mountain goats introduced to Olympic National Park in Washington state have damaged park ecosystems, but because of their popularity it has been difficult for park managers to remove them. Likewise, while groups of conservationists gather on weekends to pull invasive English ivy from trees and shrubs on public lands, some homeowners continue to plant the attractive vine in their yards, where it can spread to the wild.

'We do have these big differences in how we feel about living things,' Stokes said. 'These feelings are going to play a big role in what we choose to conserve.'"

Pitt's cloned monkey embryos are abnormal - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Monkey embryos at Pitt are abnormal, but apparently scientific fraud is not. Pitt's strategy for dealing with the fraud? Clamming up. Charming way to instill confidence.

The stem cell line has twice the number of normal chromosomes...the work was "very publishable" though fraudulent. One or the other, people. Really.

From the article:

Results of the prior experiments, conducted in 2005, never made it to the hands of independent scientists, but Dahlberg called them "very publishable."

Park, who left Pitt in February 2006 to return to his native South Korea, has had eight stem cell papers retracted by leading scientific journals.


They include a fraudulent 2005 Science paper co-written by Schatten that claimed to have derived stem cells from cloned human embryos.

Since that fraud was uncovered last winter, Schatten, who heads the Pittsburgh Development Center at the Magee-Womens Research Institute, has refused to comment publicly.

Pitt's cloned monkey embryos are abnormal - Full article available here

Chimp, heal thyself

Some chimp news:

“The chimps and human beings around Kibale use similar plants to overcome sickness,” Sabrina Kreif, a researcher, said. She was speaking at Makerere University’s Faculty of Science at a ceremony to launch a memorandum of cooperation between Uganda Wildlife Authority and French institutions.

Motivation to use medicinal plants would, of course, be dependent on the ability to reflect mentally on how one "felt," an ability to associate the awareness of that state with a given plant, and the state (potentially) achieved through treatment. Other forms of self-diagnosis and treatment quite probably exist in chimps and other animals.

Full article available here: Chimps, healers use same herbs

Dozens of dead monkeys found in Thai smuggling bust

News from Thailand indicates that monkeys were illegally taken from a national park to be sold on the black market. Over half of the monkeys in the illegal shipment died (36/65). Though it does not say as much in the article, the only black markets for long-tailed macaques are the breeding and export of monkeys for vivisection.

From the article:

BANGKOK, Thailand: Police found three dozen macaque monkeys dead in the back of a truck, and arrested two men who admitted to drugging the animals and stuffing them into sacks in order to smuggle them, authorities said Sunday.

Police stopped the truck at a checkpoint in Thailand's northeastern Amnat Charoen province. An inspection revealed the truck was carrying 65 monkeys, known as crab-eating macaques, of which 36 were dead, police Capt. Pitak Chompupeun.

Full text available at the

Capital’s monkeys draw global attention : HindustanTimes.com

What does Delhi do when faced with mischievous monkeys on a romp? String together an army of langurs, pit simian against simian and hope for the best. The world, meanwhile, looks on aghast. Such is the indignation at this absurd theatre being played out in the city that international wildlife activists have offered financial and technical help to find a "permanent, scientific solution".


Capital’s monkeys draw global attention : HindustanTimes.com

Ebola Outbreak Killed 5000 Gorillas -- Bermejo et al. 314 (5805): 1564 -- Science

This is freaking dreadful.



Ebola Outbreak Killed 5000 Gorillas -- Bermejo et al. 314 (5805): 1564 -- Science: "Science 8 December 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5805, p. 1564
DOI: 10.1126/science.1133105Prev Table of Contents Next

Brevia
Ebola Outbreak Killed 5000 Gorillas
Magdalena Bermejo,1,2* José Domingo Rodríguez-Teijeiro,2 Germán Illera,1 Alex Barroso,2 Carles Vilà,3 Peter D. Walsh4
Over the past decade, the Zaire strain of Ebola virus (ZEBOV) has repeatedly emerged in Gabon and Congo. Each human outbreak has been accompanied by reports of gorilla and chimpanzee carcasses in neighboring forests, but both the extent of ape mortality and the causal role of ZEBOV have been hotly debated. Here, we present data suggesting that in 2002 and 2003 ZEBOV killed about 5000 gorillas in our study area. The lag between neighboring gorilla groups in mortality onset was close to the ZEBOV disease cycle length, evidence that group-to-group transmission has amplified gorilla die-offs. "

Ebola Threatens to Kill Off Gorillas in Africa - New York Times

Ebola Threatens to Kill Off Gorillas in Africa - New York Times: "“A lot of animals are dying,” said Dr. Peter D. Walsh, an ecologist at the Max Planck Institute for evolutionary primatology in Leipzig, and an author of a report being published today in the journal Science. “There’s a massive decline.”

Several vaccines have been developed that work in animals in the lab, including monkeys, and Dr. Walsh is eager to test them on gorillas in the wild by injecting the animals with darts or putting an oral vaccine in food. By tracking the spread of the virus and vaccinating animals in its path, it might be possible to stop outbreaks, he said.
Other researchers say that although vaccination might be feasible, it is not known whether the vaccine could made into a heat-stable version or an oral form. In addition, there would be miles of red tape to cut through, involving various conservation groups, donors and governments.

Dr. Stuart Nichol, chief of molecular biology in the Special Pathogens Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “It’s really going to be a nightmare to try to press forward with some kind of vaccine approach. On the other hand, it doesn’t feel good to sit back and do nothing. But in reality it’s going to be exceedingly difficult to do anything.”"

And what if the experimental vaccine hurts the gorillas or does nothing? Oy.

Viet Nam News

Viet Nam News

Revenge of the cloned monkeys

Primate behavior: anointing

Discovery Channel :: News - Animals :: Monkey Deodorant Smells Sweet

A human taste for rarity spells disaster for endangered species

A human taste for rarity spells disaster for endangered species: "The pursuit of social status and health can also trigger the anthropogenic Allee effect, as many rare species are coveted as luxury items--whether for handbags, exotic cuisine, or dining room furniture--or traditional medicines. The exotic pet trade continues to threaten orangutans, monkeys, reptiles, birds, and wild cats, as well as a wide variety of arachnids, insects, and fish. And it appears that pet trade dealers read the scientific literature for clues to the next hot species: immediately after an article recognized the small Indonesian turtle (Chelodina mccordi) and Chinese gecko (Goniurosaurus luii) as rarities, their prices soared. The turtle is now nearly extinct and the gecko can no longer be found in its southeastern China niche. Even well-intentioned activities like ecotourism may destabilize threatened populations. "

Study reveals that female chimpanzees team up to retaliate against male aggression

Study reveals that female chimpanzees team up to retaliate against male aggression: "Also, the absence of similar reports from wild populations suggests that females may be able to form coalitions only under appropriate conditions – such as ecology, demography or local tradition. If groups of females are able to spend time together because of the way food is distributed in the habitat, then they are ‘on-hand’ to provide support and form coalitions. Whether they do this simply because they are present when another female is threatened by a male, or because they have previously formed a supportive relationship, are questions for future research.’ "

Ebola heads for last great apes - health - 11 November 2006 - New Scientist

Ebola heads for last great apes - health - 11 November 2006 - New Scientist: "YET more evidence is in that the Ebola virus is spreading in a wave across Africa - putting the world's last big populations of lowland gorillas directly in its path.
In 2003, an outbreak of Ebola struck gorillas living in the Congo. Bats in the area at that time were also carrying the virus, researchers recently discovered (New Scientist, 3 December 2005, p 20). That meant either the virus had always been lurking in bats, and spread to the gorillas, or that the bats were newly infected as the epidemic crossed their territory.
Now researchers have found that the bat viruses all descended recently from a common ancestor, confirming that the virus was new to the bats and is on the march (PLoS Pathogens, vol 2, e90).
From issue 2577 of New Scientist magazine, 11 November 2006, page 17"

Monkey form of HIV may be endemic in wild gorillas | Science&Health | Science | Reuters.co.uk

Monkey form of HIV may be endemic in wild gorillas | Science&Health | Science | Reuters.co.uk

Gorillas missing link in HIV mystery - health - 08 November 2006 - New Scientist

Gorillas missing link in HIV mystery - health - 08 November 2006 - New Scientist: "ONE more reason not to eat our close living relatives. Of the three strains of HIV known to infect humans, we know that two - the one causing the global AIDS epidemic and another that has infected a small number of people in Cameroon - came from a chimpanzee virus called SIV. The source of the third strain, which infects people in western central Africa, was a mystery. Now we know it came from gorillas.

Martine Peeters and colleagues at the University of Montpelier in France have discovered the virus in the droppings of gorillas living in remote forests in Cameroon (Nature, vol 444, p 164). The infected gorillas lived up to 400 kilometres apart, so the researchers think it must be a normal or endemic virus in the animals, as SIV is in chimps.

The next mystery is how the gorillas got it. The gorilla virus is descended from the chimp variety, but gorillas are vegetarian and rarely encounter chimps.

There is little mystery about how humans contracted the virus, though: local people picked it up hunting gorillas for food and traditional medicine. That means the virus could yet cross again and create another HIV strain, say the researchers, especially as growing demand for 'bushmeat' leads to more hunting.

From issue 2577 of New Scientist magazine, 08 November 2006, page 17"

Ape Meat Sold in U.S., European Black Markets

If our customs folks can't keep tabs on the dead animals, how is it that we are supposed to believe they can monitor living ones?

Ape Meat Sold in U.S., European Black Markets

Bushmeat trade puts Britain at risk of Ebola

Who's eating primates? Maybe your neighbor. Monkeys and other animals from West and Central Africa can be bought in the streets of the world's major cities, including London and New York. These animals aren't being bought as "pets," but as food. Public health officials believe that this puts people at risk for deadly diseases like Ebola.

According to the article, a smoked monkey carcass can fetch over $100. If the meat is from an endangered species, like the chimpanzee, it can cost more than $550 per kilogram.

Conservation of lemurs and other endemic wildlife in Madagascar

I think it's wonderful that President Marc Ravalomanana and several motivated NGOs have defined a vision for conservation in Madagascar. With most of the island's forest already gone, and many habitats in need of protection, it is an absolutely urgent situation. However, most recent news announcements out of Madagascar are about mining: gold, platinum, other metals, and even diamonds. Large scale mining, and its purported economic benefits, and biodiversity conservation just don't mix.

Sadly, I think these conservation efforts may be a day late and a dollar (or ariary ) short!